This invention relates generally to the field of roller skates. More particularly, this invention relates to a roller skate brake which slows or stops the skate by frictional engagement with the ground.
Traditional roller skates, having sets of wheels in tandem, have long been used in the relatively controlled environment of a skating rink. In a skating rink, the skating surface is typically flat and smooth, and skaters travel in the same direction around an oval or circular track. Hence, there are few unexpected hazards. Therefore, there has been little need for an effective brake on a traditional roller skate.
Recently, however, a faster and more maneuverable type of roller skate has been introduced. Such skates, known as "inline" skates, have wheels mounted in line rather than in tandem and function similar to an ice skate. Inline skates are offered in the United States by several vendors, including Roller Blade, Veraflex, Bauer, and California Pro. Inline skates have appealed to the athletic adult and young adult, and to persons who enjoy the outdoors. Such skates are commonly used outside, on uneven sidewalks, bicycle paths, and roads. One appealing feature of inline skates is that high speeds can be achieved. However, this may become hazardous to the skater and others when skating more rapidly than conditions allow. Hence, a variety of brakes for inline skates have been proposed.
One proposed brake for inline skates involves a fixed friction pad that extends behind the heel of the skate. The fixed friction pad is disposed above the skating surface and is made to swing down towards the skating surface by the skaters pivoting the skate about the axis of the rear wheel. As the skater raises the toe of the skate and rotates the heel downward, the friction pad behind the heel will contact the ground and stop the skate. Such systems have also been used on tandem wheeled skates which may also include (because the speeds are not so high with tandem wheeled skates) a fixed friction pad that extends in front of the toe of the skate. In this case, the skater brings the friction pad to bear on the skating surface by raising the heel and lowering the toe. Such brakes which require either the toe to be raised or lowered suffer from a number of serious drawbacks including skater fatigue in operating the brake and difficulty in maneuvering the skate to engage the brake with the skating surface.
One particularly useful type of brake which does not require the toe to be raised or lowered is a mechanically activated brake which engages the ground to slow or stop the brake as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,211,409; 5,253,882; 5,316,325; and 5,330,207, the complete disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference. Such a brake system includes a carriage that pivots about the rear of a skate so as to bring the brake pad into contact with the skating surface when activated by a hand-activated actuator. In this way, the skater need not perform any special body movement to raise or lower the toe of the skate.
Although such brakes which include a pivoting carriage have proven to be generally effective in slowing or stopping a skater, certain improvements are desired. For example, it would be desirable if the number of moving parts could be kept to a minimum so that manufacturing costs can be reduced and so that the life and reliability of the brake may be improved.
Hence, for these and other reasons it would be desirable to provide an improved skate braking system which will slow or stop a skater by engaging a brake pad with the ground. Among other advantages, such a braking system should be relatively easy to manufacture and should have a minimum of moving parts so that manufacturing costs can be decreased and the life and reliability of the skate may be improved.